Death by Love, Death for Freedom and Return to the Stars
by Meadowlily of ThunderClan
Summary: *ONE-SHOT* 'I love him too much'. Snowdapple is a despised warrior because of her sister. She falls in hopeless love with Redpelt, another young warrior. But sure it's hopeless ? Or is it not ? Love blooms, love is magical... but this time killed. In a death a cat found freedom, but soon another follows it, having been tortured. New life is born, but how will it manage without love


(In bold only mentioned)

**Whitebreeze- white she-cat with pale green eyes. Snowdapple's mother.**

Snowdapple- white she-cat with cream speckles and leaf green eyes.

Featherkit- white she-cat with cream speckles and emerald green eyes. Feathery tail and whiskers. Very, very faint tabby markings.

Redpelt- dark ginger tom with emerald green eyes.

**Briarmist- dark brown and white she-cat. Dusty black tabby markings. Blue eyes. Snowdapple's sister.**

* * *

_I love him. Too much._

Snowdapple sighed. Her dazzling white fur, making the snow look grey, blended perfectly with its cream speckles as she walked in the forest. Sunlight danced on her dappled coat and lit up her green eyes. But she could only think about Redpelt. His emerald green eyes, his dark ginger fur, his sweet sap scent. But of course, someone had to come and ruin her chances, Briarmist. Her own sister. Snowdapple hated her. Always loved, beautiful, delicate, gentle while Snowdapple was despised, clumsy, sarcastic, but _alive_. There was no cat _duller _than Briarmist. She was so boring prey died of old age just seeing her.

Snowdapple paused. Salty tears dropped on the ground. She saw how Redpelt looked at her sister. For her, that she-cat was poison. She was a sorry excuse for a cat, a snobby little huntress that yowled in agony when her fur got stained. Snowdapple did her best. She tried to be nice to her sister, but always got turned down. The worst was the Clan acted exactly like Briarmist.

Snowdapple wailed and digged her claws in the soft soil. She didn't care, she wanted to die. But she remembered.

_We scented a badger near the WindClan border._

The deputy she didn't bother to name's words repeated themselves over and over.

_A badger…_

Who cared about a useless warrior ? Especially when her sister was the most perfect she-cat in the Clans ?

'Snowdapple ?' The she-cat whipped around. A sweet, heart-aching scent wafted to her. She swallowed her tears back.

'Redpelt ? What it is ?'

Snowdapple thought her heart would rupture. It beat so hard.

'Since you're a she-cat, you would know… er… Okay, I love someone. She's really pretty, clever, strong and brave. I need your advice.' Redpelt shifted his paws.

_No ! Why, StarClan, do you torture me ? Why do you kill me with my own feelings ?_

'Really, how ?' she plastered a fake smile on her face. It probably worked, as Redpelt didn't notice she was already dead inside.

'I need to confess my feelings to that she-cat…' Snowdapple's heart cracked. 'Because I know her for a very long time now.'

'Lucky she-cat !' Snowdapple felt like she was already in StarClan.

'So, what should I do ?'

'I don't know, do I ? I can't even confess my own feelings, but since I have a short amount of time left, I'll do it now.' Snowdapple screeched. 'I wish you and Briarmist happiness.'

She ran. She was numb. She was nothing, she was destroyed. The scar in her soul was bleeding as she was bleeding tears. Her green eyes were cold sheets of ice, her feelings had escaped from them. The pain didn't stop. She felt agony. She didn't know if she was caught in flames or trapped in ice. She didn't know if this was real. If love was worth it. For her, love was anything but good. In fact, it should better be called 'misery' or 'torture'. She came to a fact. She came to a thought. She came to an act.

_If you can never be mine, then I will not breath again_

So she ran like wind. She ran to the place where the ravine ended into a cliff, where a river thundered, foam on its troubled surface.

_There it is. Can I see mother again ?_

She smelled it. The putrid scent of badger tickled her nose, but she didn't care. She wished so often to die, but she never actually did. Her life was such garbage she couldn't live it any longer. She jumped right into the badger's claws.

_I'm free !_

* * *

_Redpelt sprinted after her. He had never ran this fast before. But the grunting he heard could not be good. Redpelt loved Snowdapple so much. She was beautiful, she truly was. When someone mocked her, he barely could manage not clawing off their faces. He could not look at her in her green eyes when she cried silently at night, though._

_Suddenly, quiet came back to the forest. Redpelt started to smell the acrid scent of blood._

_**That cannot happen. Never. Please, StarClan, no !**_

_Redpelt then saw something that took his breath away. A white huddle of fur, so bloody you could almost not tell the colour, lay in front of him. Redpelt prayed it was a rabbit, anything but her. But even Redpelt couldn't fool himself though he wished it hard. Those green eyes, cloudy and lifeless, could not be someone else's. They were Snowdapple's._

'_No. NO. NO !'_

_He wept. He sobbed._

'_I love you ! How can you do this to me !' He choked. He buried his muzzle in her fur. The river roaring a few mouse tails away, down the ravine. _

_Snowdapple stirred weakly. A little tear rolled down her cheek._

'_You loved me…' she breathed. Redpelt snapped up._

'_Live for me ! Please, please, stay with me ! I love you so much !'_

'_I love you too. Goodbye, Redpelt. I'll wait for you.' Her pupils slowly turned to a very cloudy watery green._

_Redpelt could not speak. His grief spoke for him. His pain was taking over him. It was over, it was over. His life ended, his fears crushed by grief, his heart… ? Was it even there ? Redpelt could not feel it beat, he was glad, he wanted to see Snowdapple's beautiful face again, her green eyes like leaves in hot times, her fur silky and soft, shining in the sun, in the rain, in the snow. He didn't want this emptied shell to remember, anyways he couldn't connect with his brain or heart. It was just his soul. His beaten, bruised, wounded, destroyed soul. Redpelt blamed the feelings he had why in StarClan had he wanted to make the love of his life jealous by using her sister ? He didn't have anymore tears to cry. He felt enraged. Above, thunder hissed, but rain didn't break down. Redpelt snarled at it back, he wailed, he screeched. And then he saw Snowdapple's laughing face in the sky. And he knew what to do._

'_If you'll not live for me… I'll die for you…' he rasped, looking at that cursed sky where spirits lived one last time… before joining them._

_Redpelt dragged Snowdapple's body to the edge of the cliff. He glanced at the swirling water below before jumping in. He died just before hitting the water, though, of grief. As he did, a peaceful smile lit up his face. He had, before dying, caught a glimpse of his loved one and heard whispers welcoming him._

* * *

_Safe on ground, a little bloody kit stirred. Kitted just after the attack, it was still alive. Below the scarlet crust on it, you could see a dazzling white coat with cream speckles. It opened its eyes they were of an emerald green. Rain broke on it, shortly, but long enough to clean its fur, just coloured like its mother's. Its father's green eyes glistened. It was rather unusual for a kit to open his eyes so quickly, but it had just happened. The kit suddenly felt a warm body around it, keeping it warm and safe. It instantly knew it was his mother. Then, it felt a soothing stroke on its head and the body disapeared. _

_Little did the kit know. She didn't know, that, in a short amount of time, she would be found by a screaming dusk patrol, or that she would be named Featherkit. She also ignored the fact that she was to be Featherstar, one of the best leaders that ever lived._


End file.
